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His lips twisted into a wry grin. “Don’t worry. We’re going to have plenty of just-us-guys-time.”
“I wasn’t worried. I may not understand your sudden need to pursue your ex, but I’m in full support.”
I glanced back to see the others immersed in conversation. Michael looked annoyed, so that meant Alex was probably saying something ridiculous.
Lowering my voice, I asked, “You care to share what’s up with you?”
Lincoln rubbed his jaw and laughed. “Why does something have to be up for me to reach out to a woman I know? An amazing woman, by the way.”
“Huh, so there’s no more to it other than Charlotte being amazing? I see.” I side-eyed him. “So you’re not going through a version of a midlife crisis or anything…?”
His booming laughter echoed, and we received amused glances from our friends and the uniformed staff escorting us. He gazed at me for a moment, but he didn’t answer. My suspicion mounted. Something was definitely going on with Lincoln, something deeper than just one day deciding that he wanted to catch up with Charlotte.
However, I knew how annoying it could get when someone pressed about an issue you didn’t want to discuss, so I didn’t pressure him for more. “So, tell me about your Charlotte.”
“My Charlotte…” He chuckled. “If she heard you refer to her as mine, she’d likely knee you in the balls.”
“Ah, she’s feisty, huh?”
“A real pistol. That’s one of the things that attracted me to her back in the day.” Lincoln stared ahead as if reliving the time he and Charlotte met. “She didn’t fawn over me or my teammates because we were professional athletes, you know?”
I nodded. It irritated the hell out of me when women discovered the weight of my last name and started acting differently. Some of them got downright conniving and predatory, wanting to sink their claws in and hold on to a certain lifestyle. Correction, it wasn’t just women. It was everybody.
“Charlotte gave me shit about my arrogance,” Lincoln continued with a smile. “Kept me grounded while we dated. And she was always compassionate, supportive, and fun. I always had a great time with Charlotte Brooks.” He shrugged. “I guess I want to recapture a bit of those good times.”
“Hmmm.” Out of nowhere, a pang of longing struck me in the chest. I realized that I’d never felt a genuine connection with a woman I’ve dated—if you wanted to call those brief encounters dating.
My father had been pushing me to enter an arranged marriage because he was such a stickler for legacy and tradition. Listening to Lincoln gush about Charlotte made me wonder if I could have more in a relationship than merely fulfilling familial and social expectations… or maybe I was thinking crazy. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling of emptiness that gnawed at me.
I didn’t dwell on it much longer because I was distracted by a low whistle. Alex had come up beside me and was staring ahead. “Now this is more like it. This vacation might turn out to be better than I thought.”
I followed his gaze to the entrance of the hotel where a couple of women waited. They wore traditional hula dancer outfits. I shook my head at Alex, who practically salivated over the women.
As one greeter draped a flower necklace around me and welcomed me to the Kohala and Pacific Paradise Resort, I thought about Lincoln’s mysterious woman. For the first time in my life, I wondered if there was possibly a Charlotte out there for me too… probably not. Surely, I would have found her already…
4
CHARLOTTE
I felt eyes boring into my back and slowly turned around. Two pairs of dark browns filled with curiosity were fixed on me.
“What?” I asked.
Vera and Kaia, my co-workers, exchanged glances. Vera was the one to speak. “You said you’re meeting up with your ex after what…? Six years?”
“Uh-huh.” I eyed her with confusion.
Vera and I stuck together because we arrived at the resort at the same time. She was from a small town in California and was feeling overwhelmed and homesick, so my presence was comforting to her. We had become good friends.
She wrinkled her nose as she gave me a once-over. “Then you most definitely cannot go out there in that.”
I paused in the middle of throwing my hair up into a haphazard ponytail to look down at myself. What was wrong with my yoga pants and white T-shirt? My top had a sizable coffee stain from lunch, but… so what?
“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing? Should I head into the lobby to mingle with the wealthy guests naked?” I snickered at my joke.
Vera’s sigh echoed with the dwindling patience of someone who had been trying with me for months. Trying to get me into something other than yoga pants and T-shirts, that is.
Kaia got up from my bed and came toward me. “No offense, Char, but you should put a little more effort into your appearance to meet a guy you once dated.”
